Maid of Sker Review
Release Date: July 28th, 2020
Developer: Wales Interactive
Platforms: Xbox One (Reviewed - Xbox One X), PC, PlayStation 4
Price: $24.99
There's something about old tales and settings that stick out in horror games and amplify the atmosphere to create this unsettling landscape where you feel more hopeless and at a disadvantage due to the time period in which one would take place. The lack of technology or any real advancement in infrastructure and engineering keeps you locked to your location at any given moment, so when things go bad, it's not as simple as pulling your phone out of your pocket and calling for help, or getting into a high security system and going into lockdown, or putting a car on autopilot to drive to your location or automatically unlock and turn on as you're running to it. Maid of Sker will take you back to a time that once was, way back in 1898 and driven by a haunting Welsh tale where torture and supernatural events plague the hotel you're heading to, meeting up with your significant other before having to fight for your life in an extremely atmospheric environment with mechanics almost reminiscent of films like A Quiet Place and Don't Breathe.
Maid of Sker starts out strong with a cinematic involving a letter being read by a beloved woman as you sit in a train awaiting your arrival to your destination, with stunning backdrops and lighting where the golden rays of the sun and the greenery of the trees marry into a feast for the eyes. As things tend to become warmer and more tenebrous, however, the logo pops up just before you reach your platform with a chilling tremolo accompanied by the logo. Quickly Maid of Sker sets a tone blending a cinematic approach with walking simulator-style progression, light puzzles, and detailed environments to keep the player engrossed for the first hour before completely ramping it up. After that, things tend to get crazy which both enhance and impact the experience. You'll slowly get acquainted with how to hold your breath and why you should during the more intense moments, utilizing equipment, and strategically making your way around the hotel. One of the biggest things that makes Maid of Sker unique is that the enemies aren't necessarily looking for you, but they simply react to sound. A lot of them have mutilated faces and, because of that, can't see well, if at all, so any noise you make is what gives away your location, including heavy breathing. Conversely, you can use this to your advantage by hitting certain switches and influencing the environment around you to cause ruckus elsewhere while you make your way across a particular area.
The layout of the environments are big, but built in a way that you won't ever necessarily get lost. While the experience is linear, you'll find yourself revisiting certain locations as the world intertwines and intricately flows from room to room and hallway to hallway. In between you'll have locked areas and those that dwell within the hotel and outside of it spread throughout wandering the areas mindlessly as they can't see. Stealth plays a big part in how you'll safely make it across, aided by save points that are also sporadically placed, with extremely odd distances between each. Some will feel like fair checkpoints, others will be incredibly far after enduring a slow and painful trek through an area. The worst parts about these save points is that, while they're well designed and clever, using a phonograph to save and each save providing you with a bit of backstory in a pre-recorded message, deaths revert to the last save. There are no checkpoints in between, and while the game isn't necessarily long or big, there's enough that can happen from save to save that can make the entire process brutal as you fight for survival. It's nothing that I feel could ruin the experience, but it's enough to make you stop playing and take a break before coming back to it and having another go. Pacing is Maid of Sker's biggest issue, and it can make an otherwise reasonably lengthy game feel like a chore, with a bit of a janky nature, accompanied by odd animations, clipping, and random exposures despite being hidden and quiet.
You'll have ways that go beyond stealth to help with the player's survival, however, with key items and phone booths that provide story, alongside hints with hidden chests that sometimes contain maps of a floor you're on to better locate your position and the layout of the rooms that surround you. For completionists, this to me is one of Maid of Sker's most appealing features, as after you complete the game the first time, you can go for an even harder mode and go after what you've missed, though basic exploration should reward you handsomely. A lot of Maid of Sker's environments can be inviting thanks to the intricate design, so you'll naturally want to check out other rooms and cover your ground even if it means coming into contact with the blind. When overwhelmed, you can use things like a sonic blast in the form of a ball-like contraption that emits large sound waves, hurting and stunning them briefly, giving you a chance to safely run by them without worrying about being chased. These typically only have one charge to them unless you can find little electric vials to replenish with. It's a cool way to take out a large room at once, but if used frequently it could cost you in the long run.
Maid of Sker presents a unique horror experience that makes it one of the better horror releases of 2020, and while the environments keep things immersive, the story tends to lack from time to time and mechanics can quickly become frustrating as enemies tend to have a perma-lock on you once the player has become detected (while this isn't the case 100% of the time, it's frequent enough that it can feel almost inevitable). Walking speeds are incredibly slow with even more abysmal load times to follow, so the overall game, while a reasonable length, can feel like a slog and disjointed throughout. Visuals are stunning on Xbox One X providing a crisp 4K image, but performance overall can vary with occasional stutters alongside motion blur that, even when turned off, can feel a bit excessive. Even with difficulty options they don't necessarily feel substantially different from each other as enemy placements will typically be the same, with the only real difference being more damage done to you if hit. Maid of Sker provides a lot that's done well, and I think will be enjoyed by horror enthusiasts such as myself, but the bumps in the road, for some, may be more than worth dealing with, though the overall package is solid and, if achievement hunting, can provide replay value with tons to collect and see.
PROS:
Great graphics from afar, but heavy motion blur with obvious low textures as you examine things a little closer
The environments are extremely detailed
Maid of Sker's music is hauntingly beautiful
CONS:
Walking speed is way too slow
Some areas are way too dark even with calibrating brightness settings
Thank you to Wales Interactive for providing us a copy of Maid of Sker for the purposes of this review